Remember when you could just show up with a hawk and trowel?

I was cleaning out my old work van last month and found a bucket of premixed mud from a job in Spokane, must have been from 2010. It got me thinking about this one week in maybe 2008, a custom home out in the country. The boss had us doing all the taping and coating with just hand tools, no boxes of mud or pumps in sight. We mixed that powder in a big drum with a paddle, and you had to get the feel for it right. That week was tough, my arms were shot, but the finish was so smooth and clean. Now it's all about speed and the mud from the box just doesn't set up the same way, you know? Does anyone still mix their own mud for finish coats, or is that skill just gone now?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_torres4422d ago

Man, that hits home.

aaron30522d ago

Mud from 2010? That's wild.

ellis.faith22d ago

Yeah, aaron305, you gotta mix your own for the final skim. That box stuff just doesn't dry right for a real finish.